PAGE 1

INTERNATIONALTUG OF WARON-LINE NEWS

SUMMER 2019

EDITOR:

Maaike Hornstra

10cc@hetnet.nl

TWIF HEADQUARTERS:

Lytse Dyk 2

9026 BD Jellum

The Netherlands

IS A MEMBER OF

MISSION STATEMENTAs an International Federation our mission is

to provide the structure and good governance

necessary for the well-being and development of

the sport of Tug of War throughout the world.

Our Primary Objective is to attain a sufficiently

high level of excellence and universality

to expedite our acceptance by the

International Olympic Committee as a

sport within the programme of the Olympic

Games, a status held by our sport in the

early years of the 20th century.

Foreword

The 2019 Tug of War year has progressed well with a highly

successful annual congress held end of April in Getxo and

the attendance of the Sport Accord Convention in the

Gold Coast, Australia. Full reports and feedback on these events

have been shared with the members. More hard work remains with

the focus on the development of a new four year policy plan for the

period 2020 to 2024 where-in a lot of the items covered in these

events will be taken into consideration.

This will include matters relating to the further development of the

sport with a clear focus on broadening TWIF’s global footprint; the development of judges, recorders,

coaches and administrators; support to existing and new members; looking at ways and means to

increase participation at international events; governance issues and addressing the pressure on

resources and the development of policies and procedures to ensure compliance relating to anti-

doping; and the appearance, performance and appeal of our sport to sponsors, the media to promote

growth through the attraction and participation of new athletes.

We live in a very transparent and ever-changing world. The tempo of this change is increasing with

new technology and innovation driving the change. We need not see this as a threat but as a huge

opportunity to adapt our very basic sport to this environment. With this in mind . . .

I invite all our stakeholders to feel free to submit proposals and ideas that we can

test and refine at various levels within the TWIF family from community/

club level through to international TWIF events and multi-sport events.

Our gender equality and mixed weight classes, and family participation from a very

young age though to some fairly senior ages, are unique in the sporting environment -

and this we need to capitalise on.

As we now head for the 2019 highlight - the TWIF European Championship for senior

men and women, and the World Championship for the Youth and Under 23, in Ireland

at the beginning of September, I wish all national and club teams all the best with their

preparation. We know the Irish are excellent hosts and with their track record and

experience in organising international events, we will no doubt have another excellent

event - both on and off the competition field.

Regards ANTON

Phot

o: E

ddie

van

Raam

sdon

k.

Anton Rabe.

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TO ALL MEMBERS OF TWIF:

Dear Ladies and Gentlemen,

After 32 years I am not standing for another term as Secretary General of TWIF.

There is no reason for my decision to not stand again other than I have been the secretary for 32 years and I feel that it is

time for change. I want TWIF to continue to grow and flourish. There were 22 countries in TWIF when I became secretary in

1987, and now there are 72 countries.

I have been blessed to know the founders of TWIF and many of the founders of your national organizations. I have enjoyed

my time as secretary and have had many friends across the globe.

It has been an honor for me to serve you, as I have always felt that the Exco serves the members and should do their best

to make the sport grow with emphasis on the athletes.

It is also the responsibility of you as members of TWIF to support the ExCo as they are donating their time and time

away from their families for the sport. Make sure that you as members of TWIF send in your reports and provide the

necessary information to TWIF for Anti-doping for WADA. If TWIF does not meet the requirements, we will lose our Olympic

recognition and will no longer be part of the World Games. We also stand to lose the IOC funding for further development.

I will be the Technical Delegate for the World Games in Birmingham, Alabama 2021and will see some of you there during

the World Games. To the others I say goodbye.

Kind regards,

Glen Johnson,

Former Secretary General oF tWIF

Royal visit to the European Championships 2007.

Glen Johnson Secretary general of TWIF PO box 77 Orfordville WI 53576 USA PH: 1 608 8792869 E-mail: twif@t6b.com

To all members of TWIF: 28 February 2019

Dear Ladies and Gentlemen,

After 32 years I am not standing for another term as Secretary General of TWIF.

There is no reason for my decision to not stand again other than I have been the secretary for 32 years and I feel that it is time for change. I want TWIF to continue to grow and flourish. There were 22 countries in TWIF when I became secretary in 1987, and now there are 72 countries.

I have been blessed to know the founders of TWIF and many of the founders of your national organizations. I have enjoyed my time as secretary and have had many friends across the globe.

It has been an honor for me to serve you, as I have always felt that the Exco serves the members and should do their best to make the sport grow with emphasis on the athletes.

It is also the responsibility of you as members of TWIF to support the ExCo as they are donating their time and time away from their families for the sport. Make sure that you as members of TWIF send in your reports and provide the necessary information to TWIF for Anti- doping for WADA. If TWIF does not meet the requirements, we will lose our Olympic recognition and will no longer be part of the World Games. We also stand to lose the IOC funding for further development.

I will be the Technical Delegate for the World Games in Birmingham, Alabama 2021 and will see some of you there during the World Games. To the others I say goodbye.

Kind regards,

Glen Johnson,

Former Secretary General of TWIF

PAGE 3

I came to Tug of War through a work colleague, Ueli Christen senior. Ueli asked me if I was willing

to participate in a training in Engelberg at the rope. That was at the end of summer in 1988. The

trial training turned into 20 years of Tug of War at both national and international tournaments.

During this time the team was restructured several times with the result that I was allowed to pull

in different positions.

My first national team appearance dates back to

1994 in Uppsala (Sweden) in the 680 kg category

that we celebrated with a gold medal.

Stenungsund (Sweden) in 2008 was my last assignment. I had received a request in 2015 to serve as

a Swiss representative. As a result of the resignation of the head of competitive sports, I followed

in his footsteps. The circle is closed again and I am active, not on

the field but behind it.

MY DREAM FOR THE FUTURE: To be part of the Olympic Games

Bringing 40 nations to a world championship would open up

completely different options for the future of the wonderful

sport of Tug of War.

Yours in Sport,

Jost Waser Vice President

The tug of war created many friendships worldwide. Here a sand tournament in South Africa at Bloubergstrand with the team of Goudini.

2008 in Stenungsund (Sweden) was my last assignment. I received a request in 2015 to serve as a Swiss representative. As a result of the resignation of the head of competitive sports, I followed in his footsteps.

The circle is closed again and I am active again, not on the field but behind it.

Like to do: Traveling, Hiking, Climbing and Ski hiking

A future view from my side: To be Olympic is a dream

The aim of bringing 40 nations to a world championship would open completely different options for the future and the wonderful sport of tug-of-war.

Yours in Sport

Jost Waser

Vice President

How it all began. I came to tug-of-war through a work colleague (Ueli Christen sen.). Ueli asked me if I willing to participate a training in Engelberg at the rope. That was 1988 at the end of summer. The trial training turned into 20 years of tug-of-war at national and international tournaments. During this time the team was restructured several times. Thus it came that I was allowed to pull different positions.

JOST WASERVice-President

I had the privilege to celebrate international titles with the Club Engelberg, above, in Basque Country with the 680 kg gold medal.

Tug of War creats many friendships worldwide. Here we are at a sand tournament in South Africa in Bloubergstrand with a team from Goudini.

How it all began. I came to tug-of-war through a work colleague (Ueli Christen sen.). Ueli asked me if I willing to participate a training in Engelberg at the rope. That was 1988 at the end of summer. The trial training turned into 20 years of tug-of-war at national and international tournaments. During this time the team was restructured several times. Thus it came that I was allowed to pull different positions.

How it all began. I came to tug-of-war through a work colleague (Ueli Christen sen.). Ueli asked me if I willing to participate a training in Engelberg at the rope. That was 1988 at the end of summer. The trial training turned into 20 years of tug-of-war at national and international tournaments. During this time the team was restructured several times. Thus it came that I was allowed to pull different positions.

HOW IT ALL BEGAN

My first national team appearance dates back to 1994 in Uppsala (Sweden) in the 680 kg category to celebrate with a gold medal.

I had the privilege to celebrate international titles with the Club Engelberg.

Here in Getxo Spain 680 kg gold medal.

My first national team appearance dates back to 1994 in Uppsala (Sweden) in the 680 kg category to celebrate with a gold medal.

I had the privilege to celebrate international titles with the Club Engelberg.

Here in Getxo Spain 680 kg gold medal.

JOST LIKES: Traveling, Hiking, Climbing and Ski hiking

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Dan McCarthy, Treasurer ; Anton Rabe, President; Maaike Hornstra, Secretary General; Jost Waser, Vice President; and Pete Dyer, Senior Vice President.

2019 TWIF European, World U23 & Junior ChampionshipsBreaffy House Resort, Castlebar, Co Mayo, IRELAND | 4-8 September 2019

The Irish Tug of War Association are once again honoured to be hosting the European,

World U23 & Junior Championships, as competitors return for a second time to Castlebar,

this year for the outdoor discipline. Castlebar is situated in the historical province of

Connacht and is in the 3rd largest county in Ireland. Co.Mayo is on the ‘Wild Atlantic Way’, a route

which is great for exploring the scenery of the west of Ireland with its rugged coasts, expansive

beaches, picturesque villages and dramatic scenery with its diverse flora and fauna.

For those who stay at the Breaffy Woods Hotel, the walking distance to the pulling arena is equal

in length to when the anchor man changes ends!! Breaffy House Hotel requires burning slightly

more energy to the arena as its 250 metres away! The resort is beautifully laid out in over 100 acres

of secluded pasture and woodland, with many amenities including swimming pool, sauna and gym.

We would like to extend a Céad Míle Fáilte (a hundred,

thousand welcomes) to all competitors, their families and

spectators as we await with anticipation a competition full

of great pulling but with friendly rivalry between the 16

countries that have so far entered the competition. In the

evenings after the competitions we hope that everyone can

relax, chat and catchup with friends from around the world

and experience a bit of the Irish Craic!

DENIS DUNLEA International Rep, Republic of Ireland

THE TWIF BOARD 2019 - 2021

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PETE DYER

I am sure you are all aware of the scandal surrounding the Russian National Anti-doping

Organisation (NADO). This resulted in WADA taking action to address better governance

of NADOs and International Federations (IFs) who are the ‘signatures’ of the WADA ‘Code’.

In November 2017 the WADA Executive Committee and Foundation Board approved the

International Standard for Code Compliance Signatories’ (ISCCS) and Code amendments following

six-months stakeholder consultation under the oversight of the Compliance Review Committee

(CRC). On 1 April 2018 ISCCS and Code amendments came into force.

This means that WADA have been and will be have greateroversight of all Code signatories by various means such as:

• Code Compliance Questionnaire (CCQ)

• Compliance Audit

• Mandatory Information Request

• Intelligence and investigations

• Continuous compliance monitoring through ADAMS and other ways

• Doping Control Forms and TUE entries into ADAMS

• Results Management cases

• Athlete Biological Passport programs

TWIF are having to amend and improve many of our internal process and forms. Notifications to

and from athletes and any support personnel will be much more formal and rigorous. Our own

internal governance processes will be more robust.

Tug of War is generally considered a clean sport and we wish to stay that

way, nevertheless WADA have requested that we increase the number of

both ‘in competition testing’ and ‘out of competition testing’, which we

will do. This does of course put extra burden on athletes and additional

financial and organisational burden on TWIF.

I cannot stress strongly enough the importance of all of our athletes remaining compliant as both in competition and out of competition testing continues both by TWIF and your countries National Anti-doping Organisation (NADO), so they need to be careful and not take risks.

There is a useful website that can also help identify ‘over the counter’

products that may contain prohibited substances:

https://www.globaldro.com/Home.

PAGE 6

ROB SCOTT & ANTON RABE

Some of The Team: Rob Scott, Jesse Roberts, Kerrie-Ann Smith, Kevin Aron, Hilton Lazar, who provided services in Cape Town.

Chiropractor services to TWIFFICS – the International Chiropractor Association – and TWIF have a +10 year relationship with chiro’s who voluntarily providing services to our athletes at our international events. The last one was during the 2018 World Outdoor Championship in Cape Town.

TWIF values this relationship and services immensely as it assists us in

identifying recurring injuries and/or risk areas which need to be taken note of.

The data provided after these events are also extremely helpful in guiding some

of the research projects undertaken and informs topics for TWIF seminars.

Chiro’s will also be involved in our next project with the University of Deusto

in Spain with respect to drawing up of questionaires and in identifying tests to

measure extreme (read: dangerous!) weight loss which will kick off with some

pilot studies at the 2019 European Championships in Ireland.

We treated a total of 100 people and delivered a total of 143 treatments. A

little less than in the past but this may be due to more teams bringing their

own medical teams and the issues we had with our location. Again, the bulk

of injury was in the lower back and predominantly on the right side.

In the table top left it can be seen that some countries seems to utilise these

services more than others with the bulk of treatment being provided to

England and South Africa. We would like to encourage all countries to utilise

these services in the future.

The Chiro’ also log every treatment by area of complaint and it is very clear from the

data that the lumbar spine is still the biggest area of concern. These figures suggest that

there could be more work done in training and offering general advice to strengthen

the lower back, and indeed, the spine generally. We will approach the FICs to provide

some clear guidelines and advice in order to ensure that during training the spinal area

could be strengthened more. These treatment areas are depicted in the table.

The Chiro’s also measure and record the athletes’ pain score using a standard “VAS

scoring system”. This was done before and after every first treatment and although

the figures below only represent the results of the first treatment, it do show an

average of 60% decrease in pain as a result of one intervention.

From feedback from the Chiro’s

it is clear that it would be better

to have treatment before the

event, rather than going for help

after an injury has occurred. Again,

athletes are therefore encouraged

to engage with the Chiro’s before

they start a weight class.

3

Some of The Team: Rob Scott, Jesse Roberts, Kerrie-Ann Smith, Kevin Aron, Hilton Lazar, who provided services in Cape Town.

Rob Scott and Anton Rabe

1

Chiropractor services to TWIF

FICS – the International Chiropractor Association – and TWIF have a +10 year relationship with chiro’s who voluntarily providing services to our athletes at our international events. The last one was during the 2018 World Outdoor Championship in Cape Town.

TWIF values this relationship and services immensely as it assists us in identifying recurring injuries and/or risk areas which need to be taken note of. The data provided after these events are also extremely helpful in guiding some of the research projects undertaken and informs topics for TWIF seminars. Chiro’s will also be involved in our next project with the University of Deusto in Spain wrt drawing up of questionaires and to identify tests to measure extreme (read: dangerous!) weight loss which will kick off with some pilot studies at the 2019 European Championships in Ireland

We treated a total of 100 people and delivered a total of 143 treatments. A little less than in the past but this may be due to more teams bringing their own medical teams and the issues we had with our location (see below). Again, the bulk of injury was in the low back and predominantly on the right side.

In the table below it can be seen that some countries seems to utilise these services more than others with the bulk of treatment was provided to England and South Africa. We would like to encourage all countries to utilise these services in the future.

The Chiro’ also log every treatment by area of complaint and it is very clear from the data that the lumbar spine is still the biggest area of concern. These figures suggest that there could be more work done in training and offering general advice to strengthen the lower back, and indeed, the spine generally. We will approach the FICs to provide some clear guidelines and advice in order to ensure that during training the spinal area could be strengthened more. These treatment areas are depicted in the table below.

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Patients by Country

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The Chiro’s also measure and record the athletes’ pain score using a standard “VAS scoring system”. This was done before and after every first treatment and although the figures below only represent the results of the first treatment, it do show an average of 60% decrease in pain as a result of one intervention.

From feedback from the Chiro’s it is clear that it would be better to have treatment before the event, rather than going for help after an injury has occurred. Again, athletes are therefor encourage to engage with the Chiro’s before they start a weight class.

111222234

588

911

2746

71

0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80

RIB

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Rib Hand Groin Hip Foot Forearm Hip Elbow Ankle Calf SIJ Knee Thigh Shoul

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Treatment by Area

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

Pain ScoresMean pre Rx score: 5.2Mean post Rx score: 2

Pre Post

2

The Chiro’s also measure and record the athletes’ pain score using a standard “VAS scoring system”. This was done before and after every first treatment and although the figures below only represent the results of the first treatment, it do show an average of 60% decrease in pain as a result of one intervention.

From feedback from the Chiro’s it is clear that it would be better to have treatment before the event, rather than going for help after an injury has occurred. Again, athletes are therefor encourage to engage with the Chiro’s before they start a weight class.

111222234

588

911

2746

71

0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80

RIB

GROIN

FOOT

HIP

ANKLE

SIJ

THIGH

CX

LX

Rib Hand Groin Hip Foot Forearm Hip Elbow Ankle Calf SIJ Knee Thigh Shoul

der Cx Tx Lx

1 1 1 2 2 2 2 3 4 5 8 8 9 11 27 46 71

Treatment by Area

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

Pain ScoresMean pre Rx score: 5.2Mean post Rx score: 2

Pre Post